Alieu Kosiah, became the first Liberian to be convicted for war crimes committed during the country’s civil war, in a court hearing in Switzerland earlier this month.
The rebel commander was found guilty of murder, rape and cannibalism by the Swiss court in Bellinzona, and sentenced to 20 years in jail – the maximum permitted under Swiss law. Kosiah was arrested in 2014 and faced 25 charges, with the principle of “universal jurisdiction” used to convict him for all but four of the charges against him.
Human Rights Watch labelled the sentencing a “landmark” and activists in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia revelled in the verdict. “This will serve as a deterrent for others around the world. I think justice has taken its course,” said Dan Sayeh, a civil society campaigner.
Kosiah was a rebel leader than fought against the control of Liberia’s president at the time, Charles Taylor. The bloody conflict led to the killing of 250,000 people, with Kosiah personally ordering and engaging in the killing of civilians.
Taylor is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in the U.K. for his crimes in Sierra Leone.
Another Liberian activist, Jefferson Knight urged the sentence to initiate the process of creating a war crimes unit. Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which operated until 2009, also recommended the establishment of a special tribunal.
Concluding the first-day summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for a unified response to the challenges posed by China.
“We are concerned by China’s coercive policies which stand in contrast to the fundamental values enshrined in the Washington Treaty. China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems” warned Stoltenberg.
This was the first time NATO had presented China’s expanding reach and capacities as a security challenge. In his statement, Stoltenberg highlighted China’s “coercive behaviour”; increased “investments in new military capabilities including nuclear systems”; Chinese-Russian military exercises in the Euro-Atlantic area; and the challenges to “international rules-based order”.
He called on China;
“To uphold its international commitments and to act responsibly in the international system. Including in space, cyber and maritime domains, in keeping with its role as a major power”.
This concern over China was further highlighted by US President Joe Biden who told reporters;
“The democratic values that undergird our alliance are under increasing pressure, both internally and externally […] Russia and China are both seeking to drive a wedge in our trans-Atlantic solidarity.”
In his statement, Stoltenberg maintained that “China’s not an adversary” and spoke to the need to maintain dialogue with China on areas such as arm controls, the situation in Afghanistan, and regional security issues.
He further warned against China’s increased influence in transatlantic relations stating:
It “is not about moving NATO to Asia. It's very much about what to do at home. Resilience, technology, cyber defence. Because we see that China is coming closer to us”.
The New York Times highlights that China has “sent ships into the Mediterranean and through the Arctic; it has also conducted military exercises with Russia in NATO’s backyard, built bases in Africa, and owns significant infrastructure in Europe, including the Greek port of Piraeus”.
The authors further add:
“China’s army has hacked computers to steal industrial and military secrets all over the globe and engaged in disinformation in NATO societies. And with its effort to deploy 5G networks across Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, has created new anxiety that it could control the communications infrastructure needed by NATO”.
Confronting Chinese aggression
In addressing China’s aggression in the Asia Pacific, NATO Secretary-General maintained that NATO would work with Asia pacific countries on “how to respond to a more assertive China”.
China’s mission to the EU slammed the NATO Summit's Communiqué claiming that NATO should “stop hyping up in any form the so-called ‘China threat’”. They further added “NATO is slandering China’s peaceful development and misjudging the international situation and its own role”. The spokesperson argued that this was “a continuation of the Cold War mentality and bloc politics”.
An appeal by Ratko Mladic, the commander of Bosnian Serb forces in the country’s 1992-95 war, against the 2017 verdict that convicted him of genocide has been turned down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The ruling, which came on Tuesday, also reaffirmed the life sentence awarded to Mladic in the previous judgement.
The ICTY upheld the 2017 verdict of a lower tribunal which convicted Mladic, nicknamed the “Butcher of Bosnia”, for committing genocide against Bosnian Muslims in the notorious Srebrenica massacre of 1995. The court also convicted him of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 78 year-old former commander would spend the rest of his life in prison, although the ruling did not make clear where that would be. The court in 2016 found Radovan Karadzic guilty, another Bosnian Serb leader who masterminded Srebrenica, and gave him a 40-year prison sentence which was extended to a life sentence in 2019. He is currently serving his term in the UK.
The break-up of former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s engendered a great deal of violence, the bloodiest of which took place in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995. More than 100,000 people died in the triangular war between Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims.
The war is considered the most gruesome conflict to take place in Europe since the Second World War.
Ratko Mladic commanded the Bosnian Serb forces and brutalised the non-Serb populations of Bosnia. He subjected Srebrenica to a 43-month siege and massacred over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the city which was supposed to be protected by UN forces.
The war in Bosnia ended with US intervention in 1995. The ICTY was set up to prosecute war crimes that took place in the territories that formed part of former Yugoslavia. Mladic fled the country and lived as a fugitive for the next 16 years.
He was arrested in northern Serbia in 2011 and brought to trial in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICTY granted him a life sentence in 2017 which Mladic’s defenders appealed against.
The defenders argued the case that Mladic was not involved in the Srebrenica massacre, which they say was committed by his subordinates. The prosecution asked the appeals chamber to uphold the life sentence and also convict Mladic of genocides that took place in places other than Srebrenica.
A summary of the judgement provided by the appeals chamber says it "dismisses Mladic appeal in its entirety..., dismisses the prosecution's appeal in its entirety..., affirms the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on Mladic by the trial chamber...”.
Mladic is amongst the last individuals to be tried by the ICTY. US President Joe Biden welcomed the ruling in a statement and said, “This historic judgment shows that those who commit horrific crimes will be held accountable.”
Switzerland will be holding a referendum on a controversial terrorism bill, which has been widely panned by international human rights organisations, on 13 June.
The measure, which gained parliamentary approval last year but still requires a majority via a referendum, significantly expands the powers of the police as well as the definition of “terrorism”. The bill has been criticised by 80 Swiss non-governmental organisations, over 60 law professors from Switzerland, and leading human rights organisations including the UN, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists.
Among the controversial provisions, police would be able to subject people as young as 12 years old to surveillance, limit their movements, and subject them to questioning without producing evidence that said individual poses a threat. For those aged 15 or over, the police may subject them to a house arrest for up to 9 months on the suspicion that they may engage in a violent act. Critics have noted that this is in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Commenting on the bill, Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the UN rights office, noted:
“The bill could affect a number of human rights, including freedom of movement, expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as the right to privacy and family life”.
Similarly, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that the “excessively expansive” definition of terrorist activity “sets a dangerous precedent and risks serving as a model for authoritarian governments seeking to suppress political dissent.”
Francoise Bouchet-Saulnier, the legal chief at the Doctors Without Borders charity, similarly warned against the expansive definition of the measure noting:
“Without a humanitarian exemption, the simple fact of providing humanitarian assistance or medical assistance, or to be in phone contact with an armed group could be considered as complicity and support for terrorism.”
A mass grave was found at a residential school in British Colombia, Canada, containing the remains of 215 indigenous children on Friday.
Photo credit (Twitter: @TVRVNTO)
Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation said that the remains, of children as young as 3 years old, were found with ground-penetrating radar. The Tk’emlups te Secwépemc continues to work with specialists and coroner’s office to establish the cause of death and an estimate of when it occurred. The deaths of these children was not documented by school administrators.
From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program of genocide intended to destroy the Indigenous Peoples as culturally distinct group. Many schools were often underfunded and overcrowded with children said to be subject to abuse and mistreatment.
Photo credit (Twitter: @TVRVNTO)
In 2008, the Canadian government apologised in Parliament and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant. Federal buildings across the country lowered their flags to honour the children.
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau tweeted that the incident was “is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history”, which drew widespread backlash stressing the actively ongoing genocide and systematic oppression of Indigenous people in Canada.
The news that remains were found at the former Kamloops residential school breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. I am thinking about everyone affected by this distressing news. We are here for you. https://t.co/ZUfDRyAfET
Trudeau released a statement yesterday marking the National Indigenous History Month, acknowledging the incident “is a painful reminder that the impacts of residential schools are still felt today” and that “we must all unreservedly acknowledge this truth and address these historical and ongoing wrongs, so we can build a better future.”
Photo credit (Twitter: @TVRVNTO)
Indigenous activists have stated that legacy of abuse and isolation and as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism, drug addiction and suicide among their communities.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, asked for Rwandan’s forgiveness its silence over the Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu dissidents were killed, however, Macron fell short of apologising for the role France played.
In his statement Macron maintained that France had for too long "valued silence over examination of the truth" but also noted that France had not been an accomplice in the killings and that "France did not understand that by wanting to block a regional conflict or a civil war, it stood de facto by a genocidal regime".
This statement follows the publication of a report by an expert French commission which found that late President François Mitterrand had borne "heavy and overwhelming responsibility" for the genocide but denied direct complicity in the killings. However, the report does however acknowledge that France had deep ties “with a regime that encouraged racist massacres” and notes that bore complicity for certain crimes. This report was originally commissioned in May 2019 to investigate France’s role in Rwanda from 1990-1994 through archival research.
Aiding genocide
One of the revelations within the report was that French intelligence knew that it was Hutu extremists that shot President Habyarimana’s plane down, which is seen as a triggering event behind the genocide. Journalist and author Andrew Wallis told Al Jazeera that:
“A previous French judge’s report had denied that and put the blame on President Kagame’s RPF [Rwandan Patriotic Front party], and this misinformation has done the rounds for 27 years. It was in their archives that they knew this in fact was untrue.”
A further controversy has surrounded Operation Turquoise, a military-humanitarian intervention launched by Paris under a United Nations mandate between June and August 1994. Critics maintain that this operation, whilst providing humanitarian support, aimed at supporting the genocidal Hutu government and preventing a victory from the RPF.
The report notes that in July 1994 “murderers but also the masterminds of the genocide” were in a safe zone established by French forces in the west of the country “who the French political authorities refused to arrest”.
Critics have further accused France of deliberately shredding hundreds of documents containing details of their relationship with the genocidal regime.
A political decision
Commenting on Macron’s statement Al Jazeera’s journalist Malcolm Webb notes:
Macron “has to think about France’s interests in Africa generally and here in Rwanda there’s definitely a requirement to win the allegiance of Paul Kagame and the government to make the French narrative now match the narrative of RPF […]
“On the other hand, Macron has an election coming up in France and he has to stave off critique from the far right,” Webb said. “If he’d apologised here, that very likely would have been attacked by the far-right and would not have been appreciated by powerful people in the military.”
Myanmar’s ousted democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi made her first public appearance since the military deposed her government and seized power on 1 February 2021, at a court hearing on Monday.
Suu Kyi, along with 4,000 others, was arrested following the military which took place after her party the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the November 2020 elections. Myanmar’s military government leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing justified the coup by accusing the NLD of committing election fraud despite scant evidence. Last week, Myanmar’s media reported that the junta-appointed Union Election Commission had decided to dissolve the NLD.
Suu Kyi has been charged with a range of offences, from violation of COVID-19 restrictions, illegally possessing walkie-talkie radios, to violating a state secrets law, which could preclude her from holding power again and lead to her imprisonment of around 14 years if found guilty. Suu Kyi had risen to political prominence as a political prisoner under the military's rule.
The Irob minority group in Ethiopia are facing an existential crisis in addition to the mass atrocities inflicted by ongoing conflict in the Tigray state.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched military forces in response to “traitorous” attacks on military camps that has since escalated to thousands of civilian casualties, hundreds of thousands of people who have been internally displaced within Tigray, and 63,000 refugees who have fled to Sudan since fighting broke out on November 4th, 2020.
The embattled region the Irob occupy “has been turned totally upside down,” Teklay, resident in the capital Addis Abab, told Al Jazeera.
“Many, perhaps up to 50 per cent of the original population…fled to regional cities in Tigray and even to Addis Ababa, leaving mostly elderly and children behind” he added.
The Irob district has been largely inaccessible due to the communications blackout over the past six months with electricity and telecommunication access restricted and mobile phones often seized. The Ethiopian government has also ignored Amnesty International’s requests to access Tigray, making it difficult to investigate the human rights situation.
Teklay said the restrictions have made it “impossible to know the real death toll” and that there are major fears of starvation.
Martin Plaut, political observer said “The Irob district has effectively been annexed by Eritrea, which is treating it as part of its territory.”
“Links with the rest of Ethiopia have apparently been cut and maps of humanitarian aid show that none appears to be reaching the area — leaving people on the edge of starvation.”
The mass displacement of people from agrarian areas of Tigray and deliberate destruction of crops and lotted grain stores have prompted the UN among other onlookers to raise concerns over “catastrophic” food insecurity and the risk of impending famine.
“It’s almost as if Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy has washed his hands of the Irob,” added Plaut.
Palestinian casualties have sharply increased as Israel stepped up its bombardment of Gaza early on Friday as tanks and artillery massed at the border and joined aerial attacks.
The Gaza Health Ministry says casualties have risen to 119, Including 31 children and 19 women, with 830 wounded. This announcement preceded an intense barrage before dawn on Friday conducted by Israeli tanks and warplanes on the northern end of the Gaza strip. Israel has massed troops along the border and called up 9,000 reservists. The escalation of violence has also led to Palestinian deaths in the West Bank on Friday. The health ministry says six Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire, five of which were killed in stone-throwing clashes with the Israeli armed forces.
Egyptian mediators have rushed to Israel for cease-fire talks but have shown no progress. An Egyptian intelligence official with knowledge of the talks said Hamas had accepted a proposal for a yearlong truce which would have started at midnight Thursday but Israel rejected it, wishing to delay the ceasefire in order to inflict more damage on Hamas’ military capabilities.
Residential buildings and high-rise buildings have been targeted in Gaza, forcing many Palestinian civilians to flee their homes. Save the Children said that 31 schools attended by 24,000 children and a health facility in Gaza have been damaged by Israeli airstrikes. Hospitals in Gaza already stretched by the COVID-19 pandemic are fearful that they will be overwhelmed and are low on medical supplies as more are admitted to hospitals. Israeli authorities have closed the Erez crossing in the North of the Gaza strip since May 10, including for humanitarian workers, as well as the Karem Shalom crossing in the south where goods and fuel pass through. Israel restricts boats from Gaza stretching 16 nautical miles offshore into the Mediterranian sea.
Seven people have been killed in Israel following Hamas rocket attacks since Monday. This includes one Indian national, one child and a soldier.
The Taliban has announced a three-day ceasefire to mark Eid al-Fitr following the bombing of a girls’ school in Dasht-e-Barchi, in which over 50 people, mostly young girls, were killed and over 100 were injured.
Afghanistan’s President, Ashraf Ghani, accused the Taliban of conducting the attack and declared Tuesday a day of national morning. It was the deadliest attack in over a year. In a statement Ghani said;
“This savage group does not have the power to confront security forces on the battlefield, and instead targets with brutality and barbarism public facilities and the girls’ school”.
Afghanistan’s Interior minister further claimed that at least another 11 people were killed and 28 wounded in a bus explosion in Zabul province just hours before the Taliban ceasefire announcement.
The Taliban has instructed its forces that “if the enemy conducts any assault or attack against you during these days, stand ready to robustly protect and defend yourselves and your territory”.
This announcement follows a statement by the US that they would withdraw their existing forces from the region. Whilst the US intended to pull out all forces by 1 May, Washington has pushed back the deadline to 11 September, prompting a sharp response from the Taliban who claimed that any delay was a “violation” of the deal.
“If America again fails to live up to its commitments, then the world must bear witness and hold America accountable for all the consequences,” said leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhunzada.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported that Israel’s policies constitute apartheid; with the intention to “maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem.
HRW highlights that currently, Israel presents a single authority “ruling primarily over the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, populated by two groups of roughly equal size, and methodologically privileging Jewish Israelis while repressing Palestinians, most severely in the occupied territory”.
In their report, HRW notes that the term apartheid was originally termed in relation to South Africa but has since become a universal legal term. Apartheid, defined under the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the 1998 Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court (ICC), is defined as a crime against humanity consisting of three primary elements:
- An intent to maintain domination by one racial group over another.
- A context of systematic oppression by the dominant group over the marginalized group.
- Inhumane acts.
Racial groups are understood not only by strictly genetic traits but also in terms of descent and national or ethnic origin. Persecution is understood under the Rome Statute and customary international law consists of severe deprivation of fundamental rights of a racial, ethnic, or other group with discriminatory intent.
Occupation
HRW further notes that Israeli authorities have sought to maximise the land available for Jewish communities whilst simultaneously concentrating Palestinians in dense population centres. Israelis have consistently presented Palestinians as a “demographic threat”.
In Jerusalem, the government’s plan for the municipality for both the west and occupied east parts of the city is to “maintaining a solid Jewish majority in the city” and specifies the demographic ratio it hopes to maintain.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, states on this issues that:
“Denying millions of Palestinians their fundamental rights, without any legitimate security justification and solely because they are Palestinian and not Jewish, is not simply a matter of an abusive occupation”.
He adds that “these policies, which grant Jewish Israelis the same rights and privileges wherever they live and discriminate against Palestinians to varying degrees wherever they live, reflect a policy to privilege one people at the expense of another.”
Authorities have imposed legislation that permits “hundreds of small Jewish towns to effectively exclude Palestinians”. This is along with budgets that “allocate only a fraction of resources to Palestinian schools as compared to those that serve Jewish Israeli children”.
Palestinians are forced to live under military rule whilst Jewish Israelis living in a segregated manner and are able to exercise their full rights. This amounts to “the systematic oppression required for apartheid”.
Inhumane acts
The report further details abuses such as “sweeping movement restrictions in the form of the Gaza closure and a permit regime, confiscation of more than a third of the land in the West Bank”, and harsh conditions in the West Bank which has led to “the forcible transfer of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes”. This is alongside a denial of residency rights to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and their relatives” and “the suspension of basic civil rights to millions of Palestinians”. “Denying millions of Palestinians their fundamental rights, without any legitimate security justification and solely because they are Palestinian and not Jewish, is not simply a matter of an abusive occupation,” Roth said. “These policies, which grant Jewish Israelis the same rights and privileges wherever they live and discriminate against Palestinians to varying degrees wherever they live, reflect a policy to privilege one people at the expense of another.”
Recommendations
HRW calls for the ICC to investigate and prosecute “those credibly implicated in the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution”. They further call on countries to act in accordance with their national laws under the principle of universal jurisdiction and to impose sanctions, travel bans, and freeze assets.
Roth adds that whilst “much of the world treats Israel’s half-century occupation as a temporary situation that a decades-long ‘peace process’ will soon cure, the oppression of Palestinians there has reached a threshold and a permanence that meets the definitions of the crimes of apartheid and persecution”.
Over 100 Palestinians and 20 Israeli police were injured in a far-right Israeli protest in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli demonstrators were seen chanting “death to Arabs” and carrying banners that read “death to terrorists”. Sky News reports that this was the worst incident of violence in 2015 with Israel’s police responding by arresting over 50 protesters, both Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian Red Cross has reported having treated 105 protesters with over 20 needs to be hospitalised.
Al Jazeera reports that tensions have escalated since the start of Ramadan on 13 April, with Palestinians complaining that Israeli police were blocking access to the promenade around the walls, which was a popular meeting space for Palestinians. Whilst Israel’s police maintain this was to ensure safe access to the main Islamic prayer site in the Old City, known as the Noble Sanctuary; Palestinian residents have disagreed.
Palestinians love to relax in this area after evening prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the occupation [Israel] doesn’t like it. It’s a matter of sovereignty,” said Jerusalem resident Mohammad Abu al-Homus.
This latest spate of violence was reportedly incited by the circulation of a Tik-Tok video showing a Palestinian slapping a Jewish passenger on a Jerusalem train in an apparently unprovoked assault.
Responses to the violence
In responding to the violence, global communications chief for the American Jewish Committee, Avi Mayer, stated on Twitter:
In 2014, Mayer attended a similar anti-Arab protest in Jerusalem and defended the demonstrators claiming they were merely “protesters demanding stronger action against terrorism.” Mayer had previously served as a spokesperson for Israel’s military.
The 2014 protests were led by Israeli politician Michael Ben-Ari and footage showed them yelling “Death to the Arabs”.
The Palestinian president’s office has condemned the “growing incitement by extremist far-right Israeli settler groups” and urged “the international community to protect the Palestinian people from the ongoing settler attacks”. Hamas similarly condemned the violence, and called “it an Israeli plot against the Al-Aqsa Mosque – one of Islam’s most revered sites”.
A group of UK charities and Human Rights Watch joined Palestine in condemning British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel, in which he expressed the UK’s opposition to the ICC decision to investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine since June 2014.
In the letter sent on 9 April, Britain's Prime Minister undermined the international court’s independence and jurisdiction to hold the relevant and alleged Israeli perpetrators liable.
Last month, the ICC prosecutor initiated the investigation, which was welcomed by Palestinians and numerous rights groups as a step towards achieving justice. Though Israel does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction, availing its UN observer state status, obtained in 2012, Palestine became a State Party to the ICC in 2015, which paved way for the court to exercise its jurisdiction on its territory.
Despite defending the court against attacks, including the unprecedented US sanctions against ICC officials last year, in his letter, Boris Johnson described the probe as giving “the impression of being a partial and prejudicial attack on a friend and ally of the UK". Further, he stated his expectations that the court’s newly elected British prosecutor and judge would “reform the court,” raising concerns over the independence of the institution.
Responding to this statement, the Palestinian mission to the UK accused Britain of offering “carte blanche to Israel to continue its illegal settlement project in occupied territory”. It said the gesture marked a “low point in UK-Palestine relations and undermines the UK’s credibility on the international stage”. “It subverts the rules-based global order” and “it sets back efforts to secure a lasting and just peace in Palestine," the diplomatic mission stated. It "begs the question of whether the UK government is committed to international law and international order", it added.
A group of 12 British charities condemned the UK’s decision to oppose the step towards accountability as political interference that risks pushing justice out of reach for the victims, and as “standing in the way of justice”.
Similarly, Human Rights Watch denounced the “double standards” that the UK has had on Israel and Palestine. It added that UK’s opposition did not align with the country that “purports to be a global human rights leader and champion of accountability for the world’s worst atrocities”.
Joe Biden is the first US President to formally recognise the systematic killing of over a million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, as genocide.
In a statement marking Armenian Remembrance Day, Biden wrote:
"We remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring."
"Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination," the statement added.
Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed Biden's statement, claiming that it "does not have a scholarly and legal basis, nor is it supported by any evidence."
While Turkey recognises that Armenians were killed by the Ottoman empire, they reject that the deaths constitute a genocide and contest the total number of deaths.
In their statement, Turkey called on Biden to "correct this grave mistake, which serves no purpose other than to satisfy certain political circles."
Biden's statement was denounced by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu, who tweeted:
“Words cannot change or rewrite history.”
We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice.
We entirely reject this statement based solely on populism.#1915Events
Biden fulfilled his pledge as a candidate to recognise the Armenian genocide. Biden's predecessors refrained from making a formal recognition due to Turkey’s status as a NATO member and longtime regional ally.
The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on eight Iranian militia officers and police chiefs over a deadly crackdown of protests in November 2019 by the Islamic Republic.
Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was amongst those who were sanctioned.
“Hossein Salami took part in the sessions that resulted in the orders to use lethal force to suppress the November 2019 protests. Hossein Salami therefore bears responsibility for serious human rights violations in Iran,” the EU said.
Three Iranian prisons also had their assests frozen by the EU for deliberately wounding detainees, who took part in the 2019 protests, with boiling water and for denying them medical treatment.
Iran has responded to the sanctions by declaring that it would cease to cooperate with the EU on issues of human rights, terrorism, drugs and refugees.
A report by Javaid Rehman, a UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, released earlier this year, faulted Iran for failing to conduct a thorough investigation into the crackdown and to bring those responsible for it to justice.
"Evidence confirms security forces used firearms in a manner that amounted to a serious violation of international human rights law, resulting in the deaths of at least 304 people, including women and children. Impunity for those actions and a lack of accountability prevail," the report notes.
A rise in the prices of oil sparked demonstrations across the country in late 2019 which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the most powerful security force in the country, decided to suppress with brutal force.
The sanctions came just as American and Iranian representatives were negotiating a return to the Iran Nuclear Deal (officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA), that the previous Trump administration pulled out of.
A European diplomat told AFP that the sanctions had been in consideration for a long time and it was decided to go ahead with the move despite the nuclear negotiations being underway.
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